Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Are You Reeaaaddddy? YA Fantasy Showdown

How would you like to see Edward duke it out against Hermione? Or Katniss and Katsa? Well, guess what? You can, in the first ever YA Fantasy Showdown. In celebration of Suzanne Collin’s final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, a group of bloggers are pitting some of the best-known characters in YA in the ultimate showdown. And you get to pick the winner.

That’s right. You read the battles, evaluate the characters, and vote for who has the honor of moving on to the next round. It’s a tournament like you’ve never seen before (because there’s more). The authors have been asked to participate and advocate their character in writing their own version of the battle. It’s going to be truly epic. Or at least a good way to pass the time until Mockingjay comes out. It all goes down August 10th.

Why do I have an interest in this? Well I loved The Hunger Games. And while I might be one of the few people who finished the first book without feeling a need to read Catching Fire right away (a lot of other books got in the way), I am excited for Mockingjay. I can read Catching Fire and then grab Mockingjay asap. I'm also really happy that this tournament features some diversity. I would have followed it anyway becuase I love some of the books and characters being featured (Alanna! Westley!) but the fact that it showcases some PoC characters in fantasy is icing on the cake. I've only read one of the books that features a PoC (Silver Phoenix), but most of these were already on my list (Eon is not on my list).

The PoC characters are...

Ai Ling - Silver PhoenixEona -Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Katniss - The Hunger GamesEugenides - The Queen's Thief series

Ged -The Wizard of Earthsea

Goranu - Little Sister

I'm rooting for Ai Ling to win it all. Alanna is my next choice, followed by Westley and Astrid (heehee As represent!)

Join Us!

Tell the Publishing Industry that you're sick and tired of whitewashed covers and few diversity in books

Reading in Color Wishlist

See also my GoodReads to-read list, since I own almost none of the books on there. If you own any of these books and want to trade for them (or just give them away! hee hee) then please contact me! This list is in no particular order.

My Review Policy

I'm happy to review books that are sent to me when I can. Contact me if you want me to review your book willbprez (at) aol (dot) com

I prefer to review YA books about people of color. Occasionally, I will review a book with a white main character, but odds are, that I will decline.

However, I do NOT review blog novels or e-books. Sorry!

Furthermore, I will ALWAYS review books honestly so if you only want a positive review, that's not me. I blog with integrity.

Reading in Color Ratings & Explanations

5/5=<3 A.Must.Read. Preferably buy it, but if you can't or don't want to, go to the library! The book was amazing. 'Nuff said

4/5=Excellent. Great read. Strongly recommended to read.

3/5=Liked it. Good characters, plot, etc. Read it if you want to be entertained and aren't very nitpicky.

2/5=Decent. Hit or Miss. If you see it, read it, but don't go out of your way to look for it. Don't read if you only like really, really good books.

1/5=One or two ok things about this book. Disappointing. Hopefully the next one by the author will be better! I hope I never have to give a book this review :(

"IQ" stands for Incredible Quote. It's one of my favorite lines from the book. I pick one that really stands out, whether it's funny, inspirational or deep.

"Off-Color" a review of a book that does not have a poc in it. These will be rare and far in between. Uusally they will have a poc as a secondary character or be authored by a poc even if the mc isn't a poc.